The REALLY easy bluffer’s guide to China’s regime change taking place over the next week: wave your hands airily and declare that nobody knows. Because at this stage nobody does know; at least, no one who does know will tell you anything.

However the 18th Party Congress, which starts in Beijing today, is at least as important to the world economy as the US election was. So we’ve attempted to compile a guide on some of the best sources on the incredibly opaque world of Chinese politics (described as “the shark pool of shark pools” by one diplomat quoted by the FT’s David Pilling). Read more